Digital Television Information

STATUS

McClure Mountain

Current status: Feb. 2, 2012: KAYU/FOX is erratic and may be down for extended periods. It may require a site visit to fix.

McClure lineup:
• 2.1 KREM (CBS, SD)
• 4.1 KXLY (ABC, SD)
• 6.1 KHQ (NBC, HD and SD)
• 6.2 SWX (KHQ subchannel, SD)
• 7.1 KSPS (PBS, HD
• 7.2 KSPS World (PBS, SD)
• 7.3 KSPS Create (PBS, SD)
• 28.1 KAYU (FOX, HD)
• 28.2 This TV (KAYU subchannel, SD)
• 39 KSPS (PBS, analog)

If you rescan and don't get all the channels your device should receive, please visit our troubleshooting page.

If you have a line-of-sight view of McClure Mountain, you should be able to get good reception if you use an outdoor antenna. Even if McClure is slightly obscured by terrain, it will probably work. It might help to have an amplifier in some fringe areas. See below for antenna and amplifier recommendations.

Make sure your antenna is pointed at the correct mountain! Some antennas near Twisp are pointed at Leecher. McClure is the big mountain directly south of Twisp. You can see transmitter towers at the top, particularly with binoculars.

Grizzly Mountain
Status: KAYU/Fox is received from McClure, so it's experiencing the same erratic behavior.
Equipment on Grizzly Mountain serving Mazama and the upper valley will be converted as soon as we can. At this point, we are waiting for antenna equipment scheduled to arrive mid-to-late February.
In the meantime, channels 2, 4, 6 and 7 are being transmitted in analog.

Goat Mountain
Goat Mountain serves the lower Methow Valley.
Status: All channels okay.

Goat Mtn lineup:
• 2.1 KREM (CBS, SD)
• 2.1 KREM (CBS, HD)
• 2.2 (KREM subchannel, SD)
• 4.1 KXLY (ABC, SD)
• 6.1 KHQ (NBC, HD and SD)
• 7.1 KSPS (PBS, HD
• 7.2 KSPS World (PBS, SD)
• 7.3 KSPS Create (PBS, SD)
• 28.4 KAYU (FOX, SD)

If you were previously able to get a "watchable" analog signal, you should get a very good picture now ("watchable" meaning that it could have had quite a bit of static).

Digital TV Equipment
Scanning and Re-scanning
Remember, to start receiving the new signals, you will need to make your digital-ready TV or converter box scan for available channels. Usually this is accomplished with the remote control by hitting the "Menu" button and then navigating to a "Scan", "Rescan", "Channel Search" or similar menu item. It can be a little tricky because there is a lot of variety in the terminology used by TV manufacturers. The user's guide that came with your TV or converter box should provide detailed instructions for scanning. If you can't locate the user's guide for your TV, they can frequently be found in the tech support section of the manufacturer's website.
Some converter boxes may indicate channel numbers different than the ones above (such as 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, etc.). They are probably the correct stations, but are just displayed with different channel numbers.
If you try to get the new digital stations and it doesn't work, please contact Paul.

Do I need a "converter box"?
If you have an older television that does not have a digital tuner, you'll need a digital-to-analog converter box once we begin broadcasting digital signals.

Recommended converter boxes:
• Magnavox DTV (Amazon.com)
• RCA DTA800B1(Walmart.com and Omak & Chelan Stores)

Do I need a new antenna?
Except for the upper valley (Mazama area) your existing antenna should work. However, there are newer designs that may work better for digital reception (see the recommendations below). (FCC Info)
Indoor antennas, like "rabbit-ears", will probably not work, but you can always try them.

• Twisp and Winthrop: Our transmitters on McClure Mountain will all be in the VHF range (no UHF), which is common to most existing antennas.
• Mazama and the upper valley: The Grizzly Mountain site will be transmitting only UHF frequencies as opposed to the current VHF. If your existing antenna covers only VHF, you'll need a new antenna.
• Methow and the lower valley: Our Goat Mountain site will still be transmitting in both VHF and UHF frequencies (as it was previously).

If you have a good line-of-sight view to the transmitter site for your area (these antennas are small, so if there's any question, go bigger):
• RCA 751 (Amazon and also stocked at WalMart at a higher price)
• Channel Master 2016 (Walmart)

If you're in a fringe area or have a lot of trees:
• Channel Master 2018 (Walmart)
• Channel Master 2020 (Walmart)

Do I need a signal preamplifier?
If you have a good view to the transmitter site, you can try using an antenna and no signal preamplifier. If you find the the signal is too weak, you can then add an amplifier. We recommend a signal preamplifier for most subscribers unless you are close to a transmitter site and have an unobstructed view (line-of-sight) to the site. The best type has a part that mounts at the antenna and is often called an "outdoor preamplifier" or "outdoor amplifier". Here's an example:

• RCA TVPRAMP1R Outdoor Antenna Preamplifier (Amazon.com)

New Coverage Areas
As part of the licensing process, we've applied for permission to transmit to the Wolf Creek (from Grizzly) and Benson Creek (from McClure) areas.

High-Definition TV (HD or HDTV)
Some of the channels will be in high-definition at least part of the time. Whether it is HD or "normal" will depend entirely on the originating station. To display HD, you'll need a television that can produce either 720 or 1080 lines (720p or 1080i). Unfortunately, older analog TV's with converter boxes will not be able to display content in high-definition; it will look like "normal" television.

FCC Information
The FCC has created a useful website about the conversion to digital. The main website is www.dtv.gov and a page answering frequently asked questions is at http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html.

Contact
If you have questions about the conversion or if you have found additional information that we could share on this page, please contact Paul.